The Indian equity benchmark indices opened higher on Thursday, led by buying across the board following a rally in global stock markets. The Sensex opened 0.56 percent, or 219.61 points, higher at 39,293.53, while the Nifty50 index opened at 11,609.30, up 59.70 points, or 0.52 percent.

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Broader markets traded higher with Nifty Smallcap100 and Nifty Midcap100 indices up 0.87 percent and 0.76 percent, respectively.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Realty index gained the most, over 2 percent, followed by Nifty Media, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Metals and Nifty Financial Services.

IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, HDFC and ICICI Bank were the Nifty50 top gainers while Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Unilever, Eicher Motors and Bajaj Finance were the top index losers.

Real Estate stocks such as Sunteck Realty, Oberoi Realty, Godrej Properties, among others jumped 4-7 percent after the Maharashtra government decided to temporarily reduce stamp duty on flats from 5 percent to 2 percent till December 31 and to 3 percent between January 1 and March 31.

Hindustan Aeronautics shares plunged over 10 percent after the announcement that the government will sell up to 15 percent stake in the stock via an offer for sale (OFS) at a floor price fixed at Rs 1,001 per equity share.

Globally, Asian shares touched two-year peaks on Thursday in the wake of Wall Street's record run as cheap cash drove up big-cap tech darlings, although Sino-US tensions caused caution to creep in as the session progressed, Reuters reported.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan turned flat after earlier reaching its highest since August 2018.

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